Simple Chocolate Dessert Panini

 

4 slices Ciabatta bread or French baguette

1 tablespoon olive oil

½ bittersweet or semi-sweet chocolate bar, coarsely chopped

1. Preheat panini press. Distribute chocolate evenly between two bread slices and top with remaining bread. Brush outside portions of panini evenly and lightly with olive oil. 

2. Place panini in hot press and cook for only 2 minutes or just until chocolate starts to melt and bread is golden-brown. Serve immediately.

Waffle Panini

Panini, the popular grilled Italian sandwiches with their characteristic ridges, come in a number of varieties to suit the taste and style of panini lovers worldwide. There are some for meat lovers, cheese lovers and vegetable lovers. There are chicken, turkey and tuna panini. Most of them have been prepared in restaurants however, more and more people are now enjoying homemade panini. One type of panino that is easy to prepare and makes a sumptuous treat for breakfast or snack is a waffle panino.

Waffle panini suit people on the go and those on a limited budget because they require few ingredients. All you need are waffles, scrambled eggs, cheese, fried bacon, syrup and butter. Thaw the waffles first if they are frozen. When you have assembled all the necessary ingredients, put them together just like you would a sandwich: on one waffle put the scrambled eggs, fried bacon and cheese in no particular order. Place another waffle on top. Put your waffle sandwich in a panini press and heat until golden brown or until the cheese is melted (usually around 3-5 minutes). In case you don’t have a panini press, you can use a griddle pan instead. When the cheese has melted and the waffles have turned golden brown, voila! You have sumptuous, scrumptious waffle panini to go. Put them on a platter and eat them on their own or dipped in warm syrup. You can also spread some butter to taste.

The waffle panini we’ve just prepared are one of the simplest to prepare. By all means you can experiment with the fillings; the only limit is your imagination, taste preference and dietary requirements. Instead of bacon, you can use turkey, roast beef, chicken, ham or any kind of Italian meat, such as thin slices of prosciutto and salami. You can also put in any type of cheese, the more common ones are mozzarella, provolone or any variety of American cheese. You can even through in your favorite vegetables, such as tomatoes, spinach and olives. Just make sure that when making any panini, you thoroughly cook any raw meats or poultry prior to grilling your panini. What a panini press does is to heat your food and is not intended to cook it all throughout. In the case of waffle panini, the 3 – 5 minutes heating time is insufficient to really cook anything, so use pre-cooked fillings.